The present invention relates in general to a package or container for frozen foods and, more particularly, to a frozen food package suitable for reconstitution of the frozen food either in a conventional type oven or in a microwave oven.
In the frozen food service industry, it is known to package the frozen food in containers or packaging adapted for the reconstitution of the frozen food for serving by the heating thereof either in a microwave oven or in a conventional radiant heat type oven. To this end, it has been customary to package the frozen food in a container comprised of a molded plastic bottom tray in which the frozen food is contained. The container is then closed by a metal foil layer sealed around the rim of the bottom tray. Then a removable semi-rigid preformed dome lid or cover of plastic sheet material is attached to the tray with the rim portion of the dome lid snap locked in place around the matching contour rim of the bottom tray.
To reconstitute the frozen food within such dual heatable type packages in a conventional oven, the plastic dome lid is unlocked and removed from the tray and the latter then placed, with its intermediate metal foil sealing layer left intact, in the heated oven at the required temperature and kept therein for the necessary time period to effect the heating and desired reconstitution of the frozen food in readiness for serving. However, to reconstitute the frozen food within such dual heatable type packages in a microwave oven, the plastic dome lid must be first carefully unlocked and removed from the bottom tray without ripping, tearing, or otherwise damaging the cover, the intermediate metal foil sealing layer then removed from the bottom tray to uncover the frozen food therein, and the dome lid then reattached to the bottom tray by again snap-locking it in place around the rim thereof before placing the frozen food containing tray in place in the microwave oven for the reconstitution of the frozen food in the tray. The removal of the metal foil layer from the tray prior to placement of the tray in and energization of the microwave oven is of course necessary in order to prevent the metal foil layer from absorbing and/or blocking the microwave rays from properly penetrating into the frozen food in the tray for the desired reconstitution thereof.
With the prior type frozen food packages, the detachment of the snap-locked-on cover from the bottom tray either for heating of the tray contents in a conventional oven or removal of the foil layer prior to heating of the package in a microwave oven, has generally been a difficult and inconvenient operation to perform, sometimes resulting in a tearing or ripping of the locking rim portion of the cover such as to prevent the subsequent locked-on reattachment of the cover to the tray for heating of the reassembled package in a microwave oven. In other instances, this difficulty in removal of the dome cover from the bottom tray has resulted, after the heating of the reassembled package in a microwave oven, in the accidental dropping of the still hot to handle package and spillage of the reconstituted food contents from the bottom tray, thus constituting a loss to the user.